Darin Gardner
Vice President
Darin Gardner has 25 years of experience navigating Capitol Hill and various federal agencies both as staff on Capitol Hill as well as a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist. He specializes in infectious disease preparedness, pharmaceuticals, appropriations and all funding-related issues under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
In 2000, Mr. Gardner commenced working for Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), first on his personal staff, and later as a member of his committee staff on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. From 2002-2005, he worked for Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX) on issues ranging from health care, taxes, labor, education and appropriations issues as her Legislative Director and later in 2015 he returned to Granger’s office as Chief of Staff.
In 2005, he became the Assistant Director for Federal Government Affairs for Roche being promoted to Director in 2007. He was responsible for managing issue related to the procurement of antiviral medications by the CDC Strategic National Stockpile, accessibility of Hepatitis C treatments for patients utilizing State ADAP programs, immunosuppressive drug coverage, as well as general pharmaceutical issues.
Following the Roche-Genentech integration in 2009, Mr. Gardner was promoted to Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs for Genentech responsible for leading the federal lobbying team. From 2010-2014, he worked on several company-specific and industry-wide issues including the metastatic breast cancer indication issue for Avastin, 340B drug discounting program, continued collaboration with the CDC’s SNS on pandemic preparedness, and corporate tax issues.
Prior to joining The Conafay Group, Mr. Gardner was a partner for five years in a DC-based law and lobbying firm where he served clients ranging from a number of industries including technology, pharmaceuticals, transportation, defense and energy.
Darin Gardner was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He attended university at Ouachita Baptist University, studied abroad at Yantai University in China and graduated from Henderson State University in 1995.
Darin lives in Glenarden, Maryland with his wife Jane and teenage son. He played college baseball, is an avid fan of all Arkansas Razorbacks sports teams and as a holder of a Private Pilot license for almost 30 years, likes to fly experimental and sport category airplanes in his off time.